Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-12-31

IL swear, even in this first most holy
hour of completed Womanhood, i swear
that | will abandon Evil and cherish Good.
! swear that will be ever guided by thy
voide in the straightest path Of Duty. j
swear that | will eschew Ambition, and
through all my length Of endless days set
Wisdom over me as a guiding star TO lead
me unto truth and u knowledge OF the
Right. swear also that | will honor and
will cherish thee, Kallikrates, who hath
been swept by the wave Of time back into
my arms, ny. till the very end, come it 500
or late. / ~swcar-nay. | will swear no
| more, for what are words? Yet shalt thou
learn that Ayesha hath no false tongue.
So l have sworn, and thou, my Holly, art
witness 20 my oath. Here, too, art we wed,
my husband-wed till the end OF all things;
here do we write our marriage vows upon
the rushing winds which shall bear them
up TO heaven. n round and continually
round the rolling world. with the gloom
for bridal canopy.
And for a bridal gift T give thee my
beauty's starry crown, and enduring life
and wisdom without measure, and wealth
that none can oun Behold! the great
ones Of the earth shall creep about thy feet
and their fair women shall cover up their
eyes because Of the shining glory OF thy
face, and their wise ones shall be abaSed
before thee. Thou shalt read the hearts of
men as an open writing, and hither and
thither shalt thou lead them as thy pleas
ure listeth. Like that old sphinx Of Egypt
shalt thou sit aloft from age to age, and
ever shall they cry to thee to solve the rid
die OF thy greatness that doth not pass
away. and ever shalt thou mock them with
thy silence.
"Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by
that kiss | give thee dominion over sea and
earth. over the peasant in his howell, over
the monarch in his palace halls, the cities
crowned with towers, and those who
breathe therein. Wherever the sun shakes
out his spears, where'er the lonesome wat
ers mirror mp the MOON, where'er storms
roll, and Heavens painted bows arch in
the sky--from the pure North shrouded in
her SHOWS, across the middle spaces OF the
world, TO where the amorous South, lying
like n bride upon her azure seas, breathes
in signs made sweet with myrtle bloom
there shall thy power pass, and thy do
icy-fingered fear, nor sorrow, and pale
waste Of form and mind lowering ever DER
humanity shall so much as shadow thee
with the shadow Of their wings. AS aGod
shalt thou he, holding good and evil in tho
hollow OF thy hand, and |, even H. humDle
myself before thee. Such is the power of
Love. and such Is the brida gift | give I'M
TO thee, kaliikrates, royal sou OF Ra, my
Lord and Lord OF All.
And now il is done--and come storm,
come shine, come good, come evil, come
life, come death, IL never, never can be an
done, For OF u truth, That which is, Is.
and being done, Is done for aye, and can
not be altered. / have said-let Us hence,
that all things may be accomplished in
| their order;'' and taking II Of the lamps,
she advanced toward the end OK the cham
Der that was rooted in by the swaying stone,
where She halted.
We followed her, and perceived that in
the wall OF the CON there was "A star, or,
to be more accurate, that some projecting
knobs of rock had been SO shaped rs 10
! form "A GOOD imitation OF n SiiIr IlDWn
this Ayesha began to climb, sprlnging from
step to step like II chamois, and after her
we followed with less grace. When we
had descended some fifteen or sixteen steps